MP3 or AAC audio format?

[neoglow]

Hey guys, I've almost finished my lengthy process of putting all my albums onto my PC to go into my iPod. I have managed to do something that may or may not have made things better. I put the 'kbps' (bitrate) setting up to max (320kbps) on Windows Media Player when ripping from my CD's. Although this has given the best quality, the file sizes are quite large resulting in me only being able to fit a portion of my entire music collection on my iPod. Should I of stuck with a lower bitrate to reduce file size, but would the sound quality have been affected so much so to see a difference? In 'non-music-boffin' respects, would i honestly hear a difference between 128 or 192 to 320 kbps?

Ultimately, the other alternative is to use a different format, ie, AAC.
Is AAC better than MP3?

Cheers, Mark.

[crazymadone]

u should really use itunes mate, much, much better

as for file size, i stick to AAC, and on the default kbps (128 i think?)

after that, you really cant hear the difference in sound quality (i cant anyway), and definetely not through the standard ipod headphones

[mid]

AAC definitely sounds better to my ears than an MP3 at 128k bitrate, so unless you're concerned for compatibility with something else, I'd recommend a rip in AAC instead.

The one big difference is that AAC won't do variable bitrate rips; LAME's --alt_preset_standard setting produces rather wonderful sounding files which normally average below 192kbs, so that's one possible answer if you do want to stay mp3. LAME is a LOT slower at conversion than Apple's AAC codec, however, so it won't be a quick job.

For most things, though, iTunes' default setting of a 128k AAC file will be fine, and I can usually only tell the difference through proper speakers rather than my iPod. What I do is leave it at that for most things, but fiddle sometimes if the music demands it - complex orchestral scores can merit going up to 160k, but audiobooks can get away with going down the bitrate and switching to mono.

[Fei Fong Wong]

MP3 sounds best using LAME's APS (alt present standard) or APX (alt preset extreme) settings to keep the file size down. See this guide: www.bestmp3guide.com for information.

Although considering you've already ripped your CD's its a bit late for that. What I wouldn't recommend you do is transcode the files i.e. convert those 320kbps rips down to 192kbps for example. If you do this you'll just end up with something that's lower in quality than a fresh 192 rip.

[djjimbob]

I recommend 192K MP3.

This ensures CD quality sound (ish) and compatability with everything.